1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat assembly, and in particular, a seat assembly including an air bag. The seat assembly includes a tear seam which upon rupturing facilitates egress of the air bag during deployment.
2. Background Art
Vehicles and associated seating systems are designed to protect an occupant from injury after the vehicle sustains a hit having longitudinal and lateral force components. The side air bags offer protection from the adverse consequences of a blow having primarily a lateral component. Such devices may be in the form of a side air curtain disposed in a headliner of the vehicle, or an air bag disposed within a vehicle seat assembly. One limitation of air bags that are located within a seat assembly is that the air bag needs to break through the seating material before it can fully deploy to protect a vehicle occupant. During deployment, such an air bag may encounter foam, or other seat pad materials. It must then break through a seat trim cover in order to escape from the seat assembly.
Such encounters may impede or prohibit full, speedy deployment. Another limitation is that the air bag should break through the cover material at a predetermined location to optimize effectiveness.
Prior vehicle seat assemblies equipped with side air bags and manufacturing methods are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,816,610; 5,860,673; 5,938,232; 5,967,603; 6,045,151; 6,237,934; 6,299,197 and 6,588,838, for example.